Welcome to New Orleans

We drove into New Orleans in an afternoon thundershower. It was an appropriate way to enter the city, as the summer months bring heat, humidity and almost daily rainstorms. Lisa and I arrived at our new house, and as we set about unloading our car, we realized that it might have felt even worse before the afternoon storm.

One cannot underestimate the heat of New Orleans in August. It is a heat that drains you of desire, save that desire to be in a cold, dark place. The refrigerator, unfortunately, is too small a place for both of us to be at once; otherwise, we would together hole up in the appliance and not come out until suppertime. Alternatively, one can seek grocery stores, bars, boutiques and coffee shops to inhabit during the sultry hours of the day.

But we are Southerners. We enjoy this heat and the accompanying humidity. I am from Durham, North Carolina, and Lisa has grown up all over the South, from Texas and Florida to Virginia and Maryland. We realize that we have entered the lion's den at the dinner hour and must make ourselves scarce until the beast's belly has been sated by the north wind; the thought of 61 degrees Fahrenheit in January helps us to move languidly through the worst August has to offer.

Driving into New Orleans, one is struck by how much hurricane damage remains visible. The I-10 does not spare the tourist, just as it is a constant reminder to the resident. New Orleans itself is a city of contradictions: where some areas are untouched, others barely remain; while many folks have lost everything, some carry on without missing a beat; tourists carouse in the French Quarter, and residents sit bewildered in the 9th Ward. The damage is everwhere to be seen, on buildings, under freeway overpasses, along the roads, and in the neighborhoods.

But there are also plenty of signs of life and of the indomitable spirit of the people New Orleans; where the magnolias have been drowned, the live oaks are vigorous. Many households are rebuilding their homes, and businesses have returned all over the city. Your utility services are available (I ordered cable internet and they gave me cable TV for free) and everywhere are the signs of construction and rehabilitation. Indeed, the contiuum of hurricane damage spans the cold clutches of total destruction to the warm embrace of middle-class American normality.

This is, as no other city in the country is, a city in transition. How the recovery will proceed is yet undetermined, and in the minds of many, also in doubt. Yet there are many here who would see it return to its former glory; I myself am one. For though I am not from New Orleans, it is clear that this country needs New Orleans, and needs it badly - and New Orleans needs America, as perhaps no other city does. The rebuilding process will take a long time - let's make sure that excellence and love are in the scope of work that encompasses the rebuilding of New Orleans.